Safety razor



Feb. 2 1926.

L. H. LA CHANCE ET AL SAFETY RAZOR Filed JanQ21, 1921 n .20. 1 h f Patented Feb. 2, 1926.

UNITED srArss PATENT OFFICE.

LEANDER H. LA CHANGE AND GEORGE BROWNING, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO LEE RAZOR MANUFACTURING COMIPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A GORPORA- TION OF DELAW'ARE.

SAFETY RAZOR.

Application filed January 21, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LEANDER H. LA CHANCE, a citizen of the United States, and Gnonen BROWNING, a subject of the King of Great Britain, both residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Razors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to pro vide an improved construction of safety razor, particularly adapted for economical manufacture, easy assembly and convenience of use, and also characterized by a blade adapted to be reversed, end for end, side for side and surface for surface and the holder adapted to accommodate the blade in such reversal. It consists in the elements and features of construction, shown and described, as indicated in the claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a razor embodying this invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevation with the cover plate thrown back, disclosing the blade in operating position.

Figure 3 is a similar view with the blade removed.

Figure 4- is a section at the line, 44, on Figure 2, with the cover in closed position.

Figure 5is a view looking in the direction of the arrow, 5, on Figure 1 with the handle removed.

Figure 6 is a plan view of a blank from which the main supporting element or mount is formed integrally.

Figure 7 is a rear side elevation of the guard for the cutting edge of the blade, the same being shown on the portions of the mount which constitute the support, with certain adjusting devices thereon.

Figure 8 is a section at the line, 8-8 on Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a plan view of a wrench device for operating the adjusting devices on the guard.

Figure 10 is a detail section taken as indicated at line, 10--10, on Figure 5.

The main structural member of the safety razor shown in the drawings is the mount, A, whichis a sheet metal stamping comprising Serial No. 438,860.

integrally a central portion, A constituting the seat for a reciprocating blade. This seat is separated by an interval, a from the guard supports, A A at the inner ends of which there are formed by bending at right angles, arms A A which afford the journal bearings for the shaft of the blade-oper ating rollers hereinafter described. The supports, A A are formed at the forward ends of connecting arms, A A which in the construction are depressed by being bent at an angle, as clearly seen in Figures 1 and 4, back of the plane of the blade seat, A At the rear side of the blank, that is, rearward of the blade seat, A the mount comprises lugs, A, A which are set at a right angle to the plane of the blade seat, A and extend across an interval between said blade seat and a back part hereinafter mentioned. Said lugs, A carry at their ends, lugs, A A which are folded at right angles to the lugs, A along lines at right angles to the line at which the lu s, A, are folded with respect to the seat, i 1 Said lugs, A, by being thus bent, affording pivot bearings at a a for the cover plate, hereinafter described. Said lu'gs, A also extend forward parallel to the plane of the seat, A under the same, and are connected together by the back bar, B, said connection being made by means of rivet lugs, a and a, formed on the edges of the lugs, A, as seen in Figure 6. From one of the lugs, A, there is extended toward the other lug, a secondary lug, A, which is folded at right angles to said first mentioned lug, A in a line parallel to the line at which the lug, A on said lug, A, is

folded, so that the lug, A, extends parallel to said lug, A between the blade seat, A and the back bar, B, for a purpose hereinafter explained. The back bar, B. has a threaded stud, B projecting obliquely with respect to the plane of said back bar, as seen in Figure 4, and is encompassed by a boss, B for the purpose of securing and screwing onto said stud the handle, L, which extends at an angle of about degrees to the plane of the blade seat and of the blade thereon in operation. The blade, N, is designed to be reciprocated longitudinally on it and is designed also to be reversible, so as to present either edge for shaving, said blade being double-edged,--that is, having both. its

Cir

longitudinal edges formed as cutting edges; and also reversible so as to present either side out; the blade has therefore, tour working positions, the reversion for changing the edges being made either by reversing the blade end for end in its plane, or reversing it side-tor-side in reversion to its plane. For guidance of the blade in reciprocation in all of these positions, the blade has two longitudinal slots, n n symmetrically situated toward its opposite ends, respectively, symmetrically situated with respect to the cutting edges of the blade; also for actuating the blade in the four positions, it has two transverse slots, n n between the longi tudinal slots, n n symmetrically situated, both with respect to the cutting edges of the blade and with respect to said longitudinal slot. The actuation of the blade is effected by means of rollers, F, F, which are connected together rigidly by a crank pin, f, and journaled by means of trunnions, 7 projecting outwardly from the rollers respectively, engaging the journal bearings shown at a in the lugs, A The pitmen rod, Gr, ournaled on the crank wrist, f, having its rack teeth at the opposite end which is guided in a notch, a, in the lug, A, above mentioned, engages a segment pinion, H, journaled on a stud, J, which is rooted rigidly in the back bar, B, and projects up under the blade seat, A having an eccentric stud, h, which projects through an aperture, a in the blade seat, A and engages one of the transverse slots, 12 of the blade. it will be seen that by this construction the rotation of the rollers, F, rolling over the surface to be shaved, reciprocating the pitinan rack and rocking the segment pinionback and forth between limits, will cause the eccentric stud, h, engaging the transverse slot, 01 to reciprocate the blade longitudinally in the path determined and, kept to by the engagement of the longitudinal slots, m of the blade, with studs, ahwhich project from the blade seat, A as seen most clearly in Figures 2 and 6.

The blade is retained on its seat by a cover member, C, which is also of sheet metal and folded at right. an les to form a back, (P, from which lugs, C are folded at right angles to embrace the lugs, A of the mount, A, pivot studs, a, beingmounted rigidly in the lugs, A engaging the p-ivotapertures of the'lugs, C of the coviernie'mber. It will be seen that. the construction permits the cover member to swing from blade-holding position shown intull line in F i ure 1, to the dotted lineposition shown in that figure, which is entirely clear of the plane of the blade at its seat, permtting the latter to be manipulated in any necessary manner for removal and substitution or sharpening. For

'lockin the cover in bladeenclosi'ng position,

the lugs, C are spaced apart a little farther than the lugs, A A, and a knob or handle, C rigid with the right-hand lug, C is chambered for accommodating a spring 0 which reacts between the end of the pivot stud and the bottom of the cavity of said knob for holding the cover at one limit of the range of play which is provided between the lugs ot the cover and the lugs of the mount; and the left-hand lug, C is extended in the'form of a segment, 0 above the pivot andcut back to form a shoulder, 0 which at closed position of the cover engages with a projection, a, which projects outwardly from the left-hand lug, A*, the reaction of-the spring, 0 retracting the segment shoulder behind said projection when the cover swings to closed position. For throwing open the cover, the operator will press the knob, C against the spring, 0*, disengaging the segment shoulder from the proj ection, and then swinging the cover b means of the knob, or by taking hold of the cover itself.

Comb guard, D, is made in the form seen in Figures 7 and 8, of a piece of sheet metal folded into a U-shaped clasp which embraces between its limbs, D guard supports, A,

which are positioned so that the comb guard presents its guarding toothed edge or comb wholly behind the blade, that is, on the side away from the surface to be shaved, as seen in Figures 1 and e. For securing this comb guard on the supports and for adjusting it to regulate the closeness of the shave, there are vprovided two pivotally mounted studs, each consisting of a cylindrical shoulder por tion, 6, a head, 0 of slightly greater diameter than the shoulder, e, and a 'pintle, e with an interposed portion, 6 eccentric with respect to said shoulder. The guard sup ports, A are each provided with elongated apertures, a, in which the eccentric portions, 0 of the studs, E, are seated and may rotate and slide, the U-shaped guard, D,

being mounted embracing the support, the studs, E, being inserted through the parts, the pintles, 0 are upset to afford securement of the parts and a proper tool, Q, shown in Figure 9 is provided for engaging the head,

6 for rotating the studs with the efiect of adjusting the guard transversely to the extent of the eccentricity of the pintles and shoulders with respect to the portions, 6 As shown, each 01" the studs, E, has a noncircular feature in the formation of its head shown specifically as a notch,.e", with which a projection or tooth, 6*, in the opening q, of the tool, Q, is titted for adjustment of the guard, D. As the two studs, E, are exactly alike, it will be seen that the notches, 6, will remain in symmetrical relation to the guard, D, it both studs are turned by exactly the same amount in making an adjustment of the guard; thus, it the guard is adjusted from any position to a parallel position, the

symmetry of arrangement of the notches will serve as an index both of the amount of the adjustment and its accuracy.

It will be observed that the formation of the mount, A, as described, with the apertures, of, in the blank, and the bending back of the arms, A in the angular form shown in Figures 1 and l, results in complete clearance back of the blade for the escape of any material removed in shaving and which might otherwise accumulate under or behind the blade and tend to clog it. And this is the purpose of the construction shown, and consequently an advantage of the structure.

We claim 1. In a safety razor, in combination with a mount consisting of an integral plate having a blade-seating part, and a part struck back from the plane of said seat and folded forward, end portions forming a recessed connection from the blade seating portion to a guard-supporting terminal portion, said integral plate comprising also lugs folded back from the rear side of the blade seat, having end portions folded forward back of said seat for attaching the mount to a support which may thus be spaced back from said seat for accommodating blade-operating means behind the blade seat.

2. In a safety razor having means for reciprocating the blade, a mount consisting of an integral plate having a blade-supporting portion which constitutes the sole means for positioning the blade as to its plane of reciprocation, said plate having end portions struck back from the plane of said bladepositioning portion and then folded toward said blade, forming recessed connections from the blade-positioning portion to guardsupporting fingers; a guard on said lingers, said end portions being then extended and folded to form parallel, forwardly-projecting lugs extended back from the plane of the guard.

3. In a safety razor in combination with a blade Seat and a guard support rigid with said seat a guard for the cutting edge of the blade mounted on said support and extending in a plane oblique to the plane of the blade, and means for slidably adjusting the guard in its plane for varying the spacing between the guard and the edge of the blade.

4;. In the construction defined in claim 3, foregoing, the guard being folded U-shaped in cross-section to clasp or embrace its support; and means to thrust the support more or less deeply into the U-fold of the guard, comprising a rivet-like member having a cylindrical portion engaging an elongated aperture in the support, an eccentric pintle and a similarly eccentric shoulder at opposite ends of said cylindrical portion engaging fitted apertures in the respective limbs of the U-shaped guard, together with a head adjacent the shoulder to retain one limb thereon, the pintle being upset at the end for retaining the other limb.

5. A construction as defined by claim 4, in which the guard is provided with two such rivet-like adjusting members disposed respectively adjacent its opposite ends.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands at Chicago, Illinois, this 17th day of January, 1921.

LEANDER I-I. LA CHANCE. GEORGE BROWNING. 

